Dinosaur Exhibit

We have been very busy in our kindergarten classroom learning all about dinosaurs! We are reading many great and interesting books. Some of the children have been bringing in dinosaur books from home as well. This has added to our learning. We have also been working with one another on many different projects. We have been painting, gluing, cutting, counting, singing, and writing all about dinosaurs this month. We will wrap up this unit with our Kindergarten Dinosaur Exhibit on Friday, April 27th at 2 pm. Please join us in our classroom where you will be able to view some of the fun projects we have been working on. The children are very excited to show off their hard work. We hope to see you there! As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. Sincerely, Mrs. Eileen Browne

Welcome April!

I hope you had a terrific weekend! This will be a short week as we prepare for spring break, but we will pack a lot of fun learning in. :)

Reading: We will continue to add two more words to our Word Wall to help us with our reading skills. The children are doing a fantastic job reading these words and finding them on charts, poems, and stories. We will also continue working in small guided reading groups each day. This is the time where I am able to read and write with a small group of children while the rest of the class rotates through literacy work stations. We have been doing a great job following this daily routine.

Math: We are wrapping up a short unit on subtracting numbers, but we will revisit addition as we talk about how the concepts of addition and subtraction are related. We will talk about whole numbers and how they are split into parts when we add and subtract. Ex: 10 = 6 and 4; 10 = 8 and 2; 10 = 7 and 3 .... and so forth. We will learn about all the different ways we can make numbers.

Science: We will finish up our unit on properties. The children have really enjoyed learning about solids, liquids, and gases. We have sorted objects and experimented with floating and sinking. We will finish this unit with a few more interesting experiments this week. Be sure to ask your children all about it!

Additional Theme: This week we will begin learning all about dinosaurs. We will read many stories and create lots of fun projects throughout the month of April. We are hoping to end this unit by inviting families in to visit our Classroom Dinosaur Exhibit on Friday, April 27th at 2pm. Please mark your calendars and join us for this fun event!

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)

I hope you all enjoyed the fantastic spring weather this weekend. I am hoping that this weather will continue. It will allow us to spend more time outdoors during the school week as well.

Last week was packed with exciting activities. The children and I had fun learning all about leprechauns, shamrocks, clovers, and rainbows. We worked as a class to build and decorate a trap for the leprechauns. We were hoping to catch one or two so that we could learn more about these mischievous little friends. Our trap was terrific, but we were not able to catch any leprechauns. They did, however, leave us some footprints, gold dust, and shamrock cookies! You can just imagine our excitement!

This week we will spend some time adding two more words to our word wall. We will also continue growing as readers and writers during our Daily Five literacy work stations. This is a great time for us to work independently and with partners at our many different reading and writing levels each day. I am very proud of the progress we are making.

During math we have been working on using pictures and hands on activities to help us write addition number sentences. We will continue to practice addition, but will also work on subtracting numbers as well.

During science we will wrap up our mini unit on nutrition and keeping our bodies strong and healthy. We will begin another science unit on exploring the properties of solids, liquids, and gases. During this unit we will conduct various experiments that will help us to record information and think like scientists!

Reminders:
Tuesday: 11:45 dismissal due to Parent Teacher conferences
Wednesday: Gently Used Book Sale~ Please send in money in an envelope labeled with your child's name. The children will be able to purchase books for very little money on this day.

We are looking forward to another great week in our kindergarten classroom.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)

Dental Health, Nutrition, Dr. Seuss & More!

Welcome to another fun week of kindergarten! Last week we were very busy reading books about Dr. Seuss and dental health. We conducted two fun experiments. The first experiment was based on dental health. We placed hard boiled eggs into cups of iced tea, soda, diet soda, and water for the week. We observed the eggs throughout the week and watched three of the eggs turn brown. On Friday we took the eggs out of the containers and practiced brushing with toothpaste. We made a bit of progress cleaning the eggs, but overall they remained an ugly brown color. We talked quite a bit about taking good care of our teeth to keep them strong, healthy, and beautiful! We have also been busy trying to guess the beautiful smiling pictures in our classroom. I have folded pictures so that only the smiles of each one of the children are showing in our classroom. This has been a fun activity.

The second experiment that we worked on was based on Dr. Seuss' book Bartholomew and the Oobleck. The children loved this book. After reading, we made two big bowls of green oobleck in our classroom and had lots of fun dipping our hands in the gooey green oobleck! We talked about how it felt both like a liquid and a solid. We will experiment more with oobleck this week. You can even make some at home by using corn starch, water, and green food coloring! Use more water to make it more liquid and less water to make it more solid. It's messy, but quite fun. :)

This week we will begin reading books about nutrition and healthy eating habits. We will also learn about rainbows and shamrocks. We are really enjoying sharing the rainbow projects that have come in so far. Please send in your March Family Rainbow Project if you have not already done so. Also, wear green on Friday. We will talk a bit about St. Patrick's Day and all things green!

During math we will continue working on number sentences as we add and subtract numbers using pictures and manipulatives. The children have been doing a terrific job during our recent math activities. I have been sending home some of the papers that support the hands on activities that we have been working on each day during math.

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne

Read Across America

I hope you all had a terrific weekend and were able to spend some time outdoors on Saturday. My family and I enjoyed some time simply walking through our neighborhood in the fresh air~ what a treat!

We are getting ready for another busy and fun week in our kindergarten classroom. This week we will continue participating in Read Across America activities at our school:
Monday: We will read some Dr. Seuss books throughout the day.
Tuesday: Wear green to school. We will read Green Eggs and Ham
Wednesday: Wear crazy socks to school. We will read Fox in Sox.
Thursday: Wear red and blue to school. We will read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.
Thursday, 6:30 - 7:30~ Eagle Elementary Read In Event!

This week we will also be wrapping up our Dental Health unit by conducting a fun experiment with hard boiled eggs, different kinds of drinks, and toothpaste. Be sure to ask your child all about it!

Math: We have been working hard on counting and reading numbers 1-100. We have also been practicing skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. Counting by 2s and 5s can be tricky! Practice these skills at home too. This week we will begin focusing on reading and writing addition number sentences.

Daily Five/Literacy/Word Wall: We now have 30 heart words on our Word Wall. These words are helping us to become stronger readers. We are finding these words in our books, on our charts, on our school walls, and many other places. Your child should be finding these words at home too! This week I am spending a lot of time reading with individual children. It is so much fun for me to listen to and talk with the children about the great progress they are making as readers. Keep up the great work!

Report Card Conferences: This spring there will be only two days for report cards conferences. All kindergarten report cards will be uploaded to BC@HOME by March 28th. Please check your child's folder for a letter regarding spring report cards.

Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)

Welcome Back!

I hope you all enjoyed your week off and are ready to get back into the swing of kindergarten fun! Below is a 'sneak preview' of some of the topics we will be learning about throughout the next few weeks.

Literacy: The children are truly enjoying our Daily Five literacy block each day. They are doing a great job working in our different stations: reading, writing, listening, word work, and guided reading groups. We will continue to practice reading and writing our heart words. We will also learn about different strategies to help us grow as readers and writers each day.

Math: We have been working hard on identifying numbers on our 100 chart, counting by 10s, and noticing different number patterns. Please practice reading, writing, and counting numbers 1 - 20 at home too. The teens can be quite tricky for many of us!

Additional Themes: This week we will spend some time reading and learning about dental health and keeping our smiles healthy. Throughout the month of March we will learn about nutrition and keeping our bodies healthy as well. Be sure to ask your child all about it! Later on this week we will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading some if his books and working on some fun projects. We will also begin a new science unit that will allow us to experiment with different properties.

As you can see, we will be quite busy in our kindergarten classroom. Stay tuned for more information!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne

Wecome February!

We began this month by welcoming a new student into our classroom. The children and I were so excited to meet our new friend Colin! Everyone has done a terrific job helping our new friend learn all about our school and daily routines.

This month will be short due to the upcoming winter break. It will, however, be packed with fun and interesting kindergarten learning. We are wrapping up our mini unit on penguins. We have learned so many interesting facts about these fascinating animals! Did you know that the male penguin can slide on his belly while continuing to protect the precious egg that his female partner layed? We thought this was very cool! Be sure to ask your child all about penguins at home. This month we are also learning about and celebrating Groundhog's Day (6 more weeks of winter), The 100th Day of School (counting & sharing 100 collections), Valentine's Day (love and friendship), Presidents' Day, and Dental Health. Whew...we sure are busy! In addition to these fun February themes we are working hard as kindergarten readers, writers, mathematicians, and scientists.

Reading: We are now rotating through different groups during our Daily Five Literacy block each day. The children are choosing to work in different literacy work stations in small groups while I work with different small groups of children on reading, writing, and letter sounds each day. We are working hard on using whisper voices and staying on task during this time each day.

Writing: We continue to practice printing our uppercase and lowercase letters using white boards, markers, crayons, and pencils during handwriting lessons each week. We are also working on printing our names by using an uppercase letter for the first letter only. We are getting so much better at this! During writing workshop, we are working on writing list books. Currently we are writing and illustrating short list books about all the different things we can do. We have many talents in our kindergarten classroom!

Math: We began using Cuisenaire Rods this week to help us learn more about counting and comparing numbers. These are very colorful and fun math tools! We are playing and learning at the same time. We will also counting numbers 1-100 as we prepare for our 100 Days of School celebration, which we are very excited about.

Word Wall: We now have 26 heart words on our wall. These words are helping us to become readers! The words are: the, no, in, is, I , it, go, me, and, a, at, to, he,run, my, yes, like, will, see, am, on, not, we, can, you, & she. We have been adding two new words each week and we are practicing reading and writing these words daily.

Additional Reminders: Each day the children have two separate snack times. We eat once in the morning and once in the afternoon in addition to lunch. Some of the children have been eating their snacks during lunch or buying ice cream or two milk items despite reminders. Please have a quick conversation with your child about your family rules regarding snacks and lunch time. Thank you for your support. Also, several children have recently begun bringing in toys and stuffed animals. Please encourage your child to keep these items at home or in their backpacks so that they are not lost, damaged, or disruptive to our learning activities. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

We are looking forward to another busy and fun week of kindergarten fun! :)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)